PAST, NO ENEMY

INTRODUCTION

As we continue our sermon series entitled, The Life of David, today I hope for us to briefly cover the section of 2 Samuel that is provided as a transition from the general and overall exploits of David as King; to a more personally reflective accounting of David’s behavior. Chapters seven through ten give us this transition. And in it, we find a gem of story that begins to display the personal nature of David’s reign as king over all of Israel.

Chapter seven sets the stage for the Davidic Covenant when David and Nathan discover God’s will for one of David’s sons to build His Temple, and not David himself. This picture of accepting God’s will reminds me of Moses on the Mountain; looking out into the Promised Land; a place that he never had the pleasure of visiting while he was alive.

Chapter eight is the list of battles and conflicts that David was involved in as king. Not exhaustive in nature, this picture of points to the calling and willingness of David to fight God’s battles. A more complete and exhaustive accounting of all of David’s battles can be found primarily in 1 Chronicles.

Chapter nine is a picture of David sharing God’s kindness. We will delve into all the details briefly.

And Chapter ten pictures David defending God’s honor as enemies of Israel use deceit, betrayal, and personal attacks to try and steal Israel from God’s people.

In these four pictures of David settling in as king; there is one constant theme that we find prevalent of David’s conduct and character. That would be the theme of a Godly focus upon God’s will. The present and future happenings of God’s people and those who harm them is the highlight of David’s concerns.

What we don’t see here is the king focusing on old scores to settle. And believe me, there were plenty of past scores that David could have certainly settled now that he was the unified king.

David was more concerned with advancing God’s Kingdom. The people and nations whom David defeated were not his conquests for revenge; rather, they were standing between David and God’s covenant with him; hindering David from accomplishing God’s will.

You could say that David’s focus on the present and future caused the past to become no enemy of his.

PAST, NO ENEMY

MAIN POINT: Forgiveness is the ability to prevent past events from controlling present-day decisions.

We find two valuable examples, from David’s interaction with Mephibosheth, of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is one of those things that people are not ordinarily good at. It’s not like we don’t want to forgive; we know that it’s the right thing and the healthy thing to do. But, all we have to do is be reminded, somehow, of what happened; and all of a sudden the emotions and hatred begin to build within us again. I think it’s important to not fight this. It’s natural to want revenge.

Instead of trying to forget that thing that bothers us so much; we should instead seek to replace it. And this is what was so remarkable about David’s focus. He did not erase his past; he chose to focus on the present and the future instead. In order to forgive we must follow his example and...

TRUST GOD’S PLAN. When David began looking for any descendants of Jonathan it was because of his promise he made to Jonathan a few years prior to this time period. David promised Jonathan that he would make sure that his descendants would always have a place in his kingdom.

Now David was on the throne, and it was time to make sure he didn’t go back on his oath to his most beloved friend. So, David decided to trust God’s plan. And he did so actively.

David didn’t wait for someone to step up and say, “Hey we found this guy.” No, David actively pursued all leads in order to find the one remaining son of Jonathan.

Illustration - Losing bet to Daddy; immediately refusing to pay up.

Even though Daddy probably wasn’t going to make me pay; my active refusal to do so caused him to demand payment in order to teach me a lesson.

David trusted God’s plan so much, that he didn’t take any chances that God may be lenient with him for not fulfilling his promise to Jonathan. What David understood about God’s plan was that passively waiting for God’s plan to occur was the same as actively refusing to pay up.

Trusting God’s plan is vital to forgiveness.

OVERCOMING FEAR is also vital to participating in the forgiveness of God.

David had a choice to make when he found Mephibosheth. As king, he had some serious considerations to go through in order to make sure that his kingdom and people were safe. Mephibosheth was a direct descendant of the previous king, Saul; and David was not.

There had already been a period of time when people attempting to overthrow David and replace him with a blood relative of Saul. So David could have focused on the past and allowed his fear of what someone else may or may not do prevent him from following God’s plan.

David would have been well in his rights a Monarch to imprison or even sentence Mephibosheth to death. This would have been a very decisive and appropriate measure in order to protect the future of the throne; it would have just been allowing the past to dictate that future though.

In order to follow God’s plan of forgiveness, we must no allow our fear of the past influence our participation.

Illustration - Steve Harvey’s support of the young lady with a stuttering problem by helping her focus on what she was doing rather than trying to speak.

When we focus on what we are to be about; rather than on what is about us; we overcome fear. We are to be about forgiving and loving one another in the same manner and measure that God forgives and loves us. However, there is so much that is about us that could lead to us becoming distracted; and we focus on the past rather the present and future.

In order to participate in Kingdom life and the God-plan of forgiveness, we must understand that the past is not the enemy! We must focus on what God calls to now.

CONCLUSION: WHEN OUR TEETH GET KNOCKED OUT

1. Illustration - A.C. Green picking up his teeth and sitting down.

2. Some of you have had your “teeth knocked out” a long time ago. And you are still being a victim; acting like you can’t believe that that happened to you.

3. Some of you have had your “teeth knocked out” a long time ago. And you are still holding a grudge to this day.

4. Are you willing to no longer allow the past to be your enemy? Prepare yourself today for tomorrow’s potential to “knock your teeth out.”